Eliza: A Love Made to Measure is a sweet love story that takes place in one of my favorite settings — London during the Victorian era. It tells the story of Cora Larsen and Lord Grant Galavyin who find love across class boundaries, with a twist — they are both drawn to social justice issues. I loved doing all the research on the fashion of the time, since Cora is a tailoress. I also enjoyed writing Grant’s mother who, with her aristocratic ways, is the biggest obstacle to their love. I hope the readers feel as happy reading this story as I did writing it.

Joyce:What inspires your book ideas?

Eliza: I am very passionate about justice myself. I like characters that have a strong sense of who they are and of what they find to be ethical, correct, fair. So I try to place the characters in situations where they have to make ethical decisions, and I ask many “what if” questions. I then let their personalities speak.

Joyce:Is there anything interesting that’s happened to you while doing research for a book?

Eliza: For my current manuscript, I did a bit of research on the history of ice cream, and that was extremely interesting. Not only was it a lot of work to make ice cream at the time (blocks of ice had to be preserved from winter, many times underground), but there were also health concerns when the ice cream dishes were shared, without much attention to cleanliness, before ice cream cones started being used.

Joyce:Do you write by the seat of your pants, or do you carefully plot your stories?

Eliza: Seat of my pants. I do not plot because I want the characters to evolve throughout the story and make decisions that match their development and their current situation.

Joyce:Who are three romance authors who turn you into a fangirl?

Eliza: I am a writer because I love Jane Austen. To me, she is the writer of all writers, and I will forever read and reread her books. As for contemporary writers, I have a lot of fun reading Eloisa James and more recently Lisa Kleypas.

Joyce:Would you like to share a favorite moment from your writing career?

Eliza: One of my favorite things has been not a moment but a realization: how awesome the romance writing and reading community is. Writers are remarkable, friendly and supportive; and readers are truly amazing and enthusiastic about their favorite stories and writers. It is a wonderful community, and so it is really a privilege to be a part of it.

Joyce:Is there a TV show that you’ve recently binge-watched?

Eliza: I did binge-watch Glow. I love the ’80s, and character development in this series was great, not to mention the great music featured in the episodes!

Joyce:Do you have a pet that hangs out with you while you’re working?

Eliza: Two little dogs follow me around the house all the time. They also like to sit by me or under the desk while I write: Matt, a rescue poodle mix, and Parker, a rescue terrier mix.

Joyce:What’s your ideal scenery while you’re writing?

Eliza: Any window, really. I love looking outside between sentences.

Joyce:What’s coming next, or what are you working on now?

Eliza: A Love Made to Measure was conceived as part of a series of three independent romances (you can read them in any order you like and without previous knowledge of the other two), so I am now working on the second book. It goes back five years to tell the story of Addy Galavyin, Lord Galavyin’s sister. I love epistolary novels, so there is a nod to that in the new book. The three heroines of these stories are strong women who know what they want and work hard to make their dreams come true. Each story also deals with a social issue of importance: In the first, it was poverty. I wonder if you will identify the issues of the other two.

Joyce:Do you have anything to add?

Eliza: I would love to hear from readers on Twitter (@EmmettEliza) or on my Facebook page. While I am writing, I often imagine the future readers of those stories, and I like to think that wherever they are, whether it is on vacation or stuck at the airport because their flight is late, they found a few minutes or a couple of hours of respite because of what I wrote. Therefore, I love it when I see Instagram posts with book covers featured against different backgrounds — a coffee shop, a park or a nice porch. If anyone wants to share that, I would be very happy. I am on Instagram, too (@eliza.emmett.author) and often use #Alovemadetomeasure everywhere!

Joyce: Thanks, Eliza!

About A Love Made to Measure:

Cora Larsen is a Victorian tailoress on Regent Street, where she creates dresses that are “the toast of the Season.” She is a gifted maker of men’s suits too, not that many are willing to have a woman take their measurements. Lord Galavyin believes in marrying for love, not convenience. He feels bad enough about the privilege of being a baron and refuses to consider an arranged marriage. One day, he walks through Cora’s door to collect a dress and is smitten with her forward-thinking social ideals. But, despite their growing friendship, he cannot persuade Cora to ignore the difference in their status and address him by his first name—Grant. When Cora loses the lease on her shop, she thinks it is simply a coincidence that the building belongs to Grant’s family. She doesn’t yet know she is in love with a man whose mother is the worst enemy one can imagine. Grant will do anything to keep Cora safe and employed, even if it takes helping her without her knowledge. What follows is a game of cat and mouse that will test Cora’s resolve and Grant’s love to their limits.

Eliza Emmett

About Eliza

Eliza Emmett is a pseudonym for Patricia Friedrich, a professor of English with several academic books and journal articles published. She writes historical romance, inspired by the work of Jane Austen and her contemporaries, though her stories are set a little later, in the Victorian-England era. A Love Made to Measure is the first of a series of three romances about strong women navigating a time of great social change and finding love on their own terms.